Anesthesia Coding Alert
Code 00550 Is Better Than 00400 if There's Debridement
Question: Our anesthesiologist was present during surgery to treat sternal wound infection. According to the OR record, the surgeon debrided wounds at two separate sites, performed pulsavac lavage, and completed the procedure with vacuum-assisted closure. There were notes of minimal amounts of granulation tissue in both the superior and inferior sternal wounds and necrotic material in the muscle and fascia layers. What is the most appropriate anesthesia code? New Mexico Subscriber Answer: At first glance, anesthesia code 00400 (Anesthesia for procedures on the integumentary system on the extremities, anterior trunk and perineum; not otherwise specified) might seem like the correct choice – except the procedure also included bone tissue debridement. Because of this, the better option is 00550 (Anesthesia for sternal debridement), which carries a base unit value of 10.
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